The worst travel day...

After a looooong ten hour drive (that should have been about six and a half), involving a cranky toddler and a flat tire in Crappy Town, Mississippi, we finally made it!! The beach is gorgeous. It's good to be home in Destin!

Destin, here we come!

We're leaving tomorrow morning (SATURDAY!! As Carter says...) for Destin, so don't be surprised if my blog goes AWOL for a while, but I am bringing my laptop and my camera of course, so I may update a few times :) Hope everyone has a lovely 4th of July holiday!

I couldn't find Carter today...

so I called out for him and he said "whaaaaat?" I followed the sound of his voice until I found this :). I guess he's destined to be a techie geek like his Mama.

This hits close to home!

This really made me laugh, maybe because it sounds so familiar??

http://www.alphamom.com/guide-to-everything/2009/06/how_to_deal_with_a_talkative_c.php

How To Deal With A Talkative Child Before You’ve Had Caffeine

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By Cecily Kellog of Uppercase Woman

1. Make your partner do it.
If your schedule allows, alternate with your partner who gets up with the kid. That way at least half of the week you will have an opportunity to stretch, brush your teeth, and maybe sneak in a cup of coffee before you have to engage with your super chatty kid. Or if you’re like me, you stay in bed just a bit longer so by the time you face your child, said child has wound down a bit.

2. Stay in bed.
If your child is either in a crib or safe in his or her room, stay in bed until that first burst of chipper, happy observation of everything has passed. That way, the stuffed animals nearby will get the bulk of the morning monologue, and you can slowly wake up in the other room while listening to the happy murmur. Once the talking begins to slow down a bit, only then head on in to the kid’s room and get the day started.

3. Use Ear Plugs.
If you are like me and have a husband that snores loudly enough to wake the dead, you might also wear earplugs. When it’s my turn to get up with the kiddo, I often leave the earplugs in and just nod my head and smile while she lights into her litany of what animal slept with her and what color the walls are and why, yes, that IS Hello Kitty on her pajamas. Once we get downstairs, I take them out, and start in on the caffeine.

4. Quit caffeine.
If you aren’t addicted to caffeine, you wake up more alert and with your tush firmly attached to your body, not dragging behind you in your wake. Ha! Who am I kidding? What a silly idea.

5. Grin and bear it.
I wish I had better advice, but some days, you just have to tolerate it. Little kids brains grow at the astonishing rate of 250,000 cells a minute and part of that growth involves their language centers. When they wake up in the morning, they’ve usually had a lovely ten to twelve hours of sleep, and so naturally they feel quite well rested and happy and eager to share their joy with the world. Sadly, we adults count ourselves lucky to get six hours of sleep a night and, you know, we’re OLD, so our brains don’t have that same lovely flare of happy energy first thing in the morning. So, the only way to deal with it is just enjoy it while the coffee brews.

Happy Father's Day!

To the greatest Dads (and PaRandys and Pops) around!





(looks like we need to get more pics of Pop and Carter!)

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to my awesome husband. Six lovely years ;)

Now, if only we could manage to go back to Maui too....

Mmm, breakfast.

Mama: Carter, would you like bagel for breakfast?
Carter: Yeah! Mmmmm, a pickle!!

Because bedtime has been such a nightmare lately: a bad iPhone pic of the video monitor

I wasn't willing to walk in and disturb him, so here's a shot of the video monitor this morning.

Yes, that 'my George' on his head :)

Toddler Fashion

What do you mean, this doesn't match?


Ok, how about this?


Oh, dear.

Fun-filled weekend with Sutton (part II): The Audubon Zoo

On Sunday, we packed up the boys and drove on down to New Orleans. I haven't been to the Audubon Zoo in as long as I could remember, but I love that part of New Orleans so I was excited to go back. And Carter is soo interested in animals ('aminals') right now that I knew he'd have a great time - and we did! It was incredibly ridiculously hot, and we wanted to jump into the fountains and splash around in the ponds, but we took a few a/c breaks to have snacks and ice cream (and drank plenty of water) and all had so much fun!

Mingos!


The fountain we were dying to jump into...




Elephants!! They were enormous and so close...they were drinking water and we thought we'd get sprayed by stinky elephant water but luckily, we were safe:






Melting, but staying hydrated :)






Our baby girl's first trip to the zoo:


So appealing...


What do monkeys do??






Sweet Sutton










Carter's still asking to go to the zoo a day later, so I know we'll be heading back there soon...hopefully when it's cooler!!

Fun-filled weekend with Sutton (part I): The Children's Museum

Sutton spent the last few days here while his parents jetted off to the Bahamas (:cough: losers :cough:). So on Saturday we started off a fun-filled weekend by taking the boys to the Children's Museum! They had a great time. We haven't been back there since Carter's first birthday, and it's really so cute and we should try to go more often. Carter had the greatest time with all the new toys to look at, and especially loved the mini-store with the mini-shopping carts as well as the ambulance he could climb into. Here are some pictures:

Climbing in the play center




The mini-store:






Driving the ambulance:


Maybe he'll follow in Jarrain and TT's footsteps?

Halfway there!

I am 20 weeks pregnant today, which means that this pregnancy is officially halfway over. It's hard to believe because it seems to be going by so fast! Here are some pictures from last week (19 weeks). Even Carter wanted in on the action:

Carter is going to be the best big brother.

A week or so ago, we were laying on the couch hanging out (well, I was being lazy and Carter was tolerating it). He loves to hug and kiss my belly, and he was babbling to his little sister, so I asked him if he was telling her a story.

He turned to my belly again and said, "Brown bear, brown bear, what do YOU see, Baby?" It was from his current obsession:

I thought my heart would burst from the cuteness and compassion that he has. He truly is the sweetest, most caring little boy I've ever known. I can't wait until he meets his baby sister. I know there will be bumps in the road and he'll pull her hair and break her dolls, but he's going to love her. I know it.